During Tuesday morning’s Brownwood City Council meeting, a unanimous vote rejected all bids for the construction of Phase I of the Brownwood Event Center.

The City of Brownwood received two bids for Phase I of the Brownwood Event Center project, which were opened on Oct. 7. Both bids exceeded cost projections for Phase I of the project. Volatility in the construction market has been identified as the prime reason the bids were high.

The BMDD Board, BRW Architects and staff recommended rejecting all bids and ask that BRW Architects modify the bid specs with some cost saving measures and debrief with both bidders to identify additional saving possibilities. The intent is to go back out for bid soon with modified bid specifications, likely in the month of November.

Ray Tipton, Director of Economic Development, said, “This is just indicative of the post-COVID supply chain issues.”

Brownwood Mayor Stephen Haynes said, “Our hands our tied a little bit with the open bidding process in what we can say and what we can do in regard to awarding the bid or rejecting the bid. What we did hear back from contractors from my understanding is there’s probably some cost saving to be had if we’re able to go back and modify the bid specification. In order to try and save the citizens and the city some money, we reject all the bids. At that point, since there’s no bid on the table, our architects are now free to talk with contractors more openly and have a dialogue about maybe where there’s some cost savings, then write the specifications and then go back out for bids.”

When originally announced on Oct. 13, 2020, the project was expected to be completed in 18 to 24 months.